A study led by Viola Bocchi of Sapienza University of Rome suggests dense, metal-poor young massive clusters seen by JWST, including in the Cosmic Gems arc and Firefly Sparkle, could form intermediate-mass black hole seeds. Models estimate 1,600–2,700 solar masses in Cosmic Gems, though no IMBH was directly observed.
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is predicted to reenter Earth’s atmosphere this week after nearly 22 years, with most of the 1.6-ton spacecraft expected to burn up. A Katalyst Space tug meant to rescue it lost orientation, and NASA called off the capture attempt.
Stellar Alpina, a Swiss startup, plans a lunar lander called Morpho and an orbital transfer vehicle named Monarch, both using its rotating detonation engine. The company, backed by a CHF 3.5 million pre-seed round, says its Genziana engine completed eight hot-fire tests and later over 150 tests across 23 configurations.
China plans to send taikonauts to the Moon by 2030 using a two-launch, lunar-orbit rendezvous approach, Wang Xiang said at a Beijing symposium. Mengzhou and Lanyue would launch separately, dock in lunar orbit, and carry two crew to the surface, with three uncrewed tests planned before the crewed landing.
Using Vera Rubin Observatory Early Data Preview 2 data, astronomers report two Milky Way satellites: Aquarius IV, probably an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, and Rubin-GC1, likely a globular cluster. The teams say deeper imaging and spectroscopy are needed to confirm Aquarius IV’s classification.
Researchers studying a Ryugu sample report that poorly crystalline magnesium silicate hydrate may explain how its mineral matrix developed varied clay-like compositions without separate aqueous conditions for each region. The work also suggests carbonaceous chondrite matrices could share this poorly crystalline material.
A weekly launch preview describes eight launches planned from the United States, China, New Zealand, and South Korea, including two classified Falcon 9 flights for the U.S. Space Force. It also covers Chinese rockets and Rocket Lab’s Electron, including its 99th mission, plus a Ceres 2 return to flight after an unsuccessful debut.
NASA's November skywatching guide lists Southern and Northern Taurid peaks around Nov. 5 and 12, with Leonids best before dawn on Nov. 17-18. It also notes Mars and Jupiter about 1.2 degrees apart on Nov. 15-16, Voyager 1's one-light-day milestone, and a Nov. 24 supermoon beginning three straight supermoons.
China has disclosed a plan to land astronauts on the Moon within three years, testing a Lanyue lander mock-up and preparing Mengzhou for a 2027 Wenchang launch. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is streamlining Artemis, including a Blue Origin lander effort, and committing NASA to a lunar base over the next decade.
Exolaunch CEO Robert Sproles says satellite operators face a shortage of suitable launch options, not only rocket capacity, as demand favors more orbital destinations and schedules. FAA data show 187 licensed launches in fiscal 2026, while Novaspace values the space economy at $626 billion in 2025.
ESA has issued a BEST!2 call to back industry-led flight demonstrations of reusable rocket first stages and boosters, though the notice is still listed as Intended and detailed budget and timeline documents are not yet available. The call follows 2024 contracts with ArianeGroup and Isar Aerospace, and it remains unclear whether either project will receive follow-on funding.
Using Hubble archival data for 37 nearby dwarf galaxies, researchers found that much of the oxygen expected from their stars is absent. The GLOW team concludes that supernova-driven winds strip low-mass galaxies of oxygen more effectively than current models predict.
NASA's Viking Orbiter 2 first recorded the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud in 1977, and ESA's Mars Express later imaged it in more detail, including in 2018. The water-ice cloud forms on spring and summer mornings near Arsia Mons, with wind stretching its tail beyond 1,500 kilometers; dust's role is speculative.
A study in Scientific Reports proposes that Van Gogh's The Starry Night depicts the sky over Saint-Rémy in July 1889, when a crescent Moon, Venus and the Hyades cluster appeared together. Researchers compared the painting with on-site observations and statistical shape analysis, and also examined Café Terrace at Night.
Astrophotographer Marcella Giulia Pace documented the full Moon's apparent colors over 10 years from locations in Italy. The APOD explanation links horizon reds and yellows to atmospheric scattering, rarer blue tints to larger dust particles, and the faint red 2018 total lunar eclipse to refracted light.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says Artemis III will use three launches from separate providers. Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander must be in orbit before NASA commits SLS and Orion, with Starship joining the low-Earth-orbit checkout campaign.
Caltech researchers combined Dawn spacecraft observations with computer models to examine how water ice and salt evolve on Ceres. They suggest ice mixed with salts sublimates and can hide larger salt deposits, while landslides expose fresh ice that later evaporates and leaves bright salty residues.
A study of 36 craters in Mars’s northern polar ice cap used HiRISE images from 2006 to 2025 and found seasonal brightness changes in 32, suggesting frost deposits expand and shrink. The authors suggest these crater-specific responses may be linked to local topography, geometry and microclimate rather than cap-wide processes.
The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft has returned its first image resolving the Didymos and Dimorphos asteroid pair as separate objects. It will follow up NASA's DART impact by deploying two CubeSats to examine Dimorphos' surface and interior.
An Astronomy Picture of the Day entry describes auroras seen over Hverir, a geothermal area in northeastern Iceland. It explains that solar-driven geomagnetic storms send energetic particles into the upper atmosphere at high latitudes, producing the northern lights while fumaroles release steam.
